Sierra Leone developed a NAP for the period 2010-2014. As of November 2016, no new NAP has been launched. The NAP was developed by a collaborative process and was conducted by a Government-Civil Society Task Force, led by the Ministry of Social Welfare, Gender and Children’s Affairs and included government Ministries, UN agencies, Civil Society groups including women’s NGOs, research bodies and the media. The NAP was drafted following the findings of a nationwide mapping survey which sought to establish a baseline of existing initiatives on UNSCR 1325 and develop a plan that could integrate dispersed and uncoordinated efforts and build new actions. The Government-Civil Society Task Force held monthly meetings throughout the drafting phase and conducted regional and national consultations across Sierra Leone.
The NAP is set in a post-conflict and recovery context, following the 1991-2002 civil war that ended with the signing of the Lome Peace Agreement. Systematic abuse of women and girls during the conflict, and the exclusion of women from peace processes are identified as concerns for post-conflict recovery and reconciliation in Sierra Leone. As such, the NAP seeks to nationally implement both UNSCR 1325 and 1820.
An academic analysis of the first NAP notes that it includes detailed budgets on what is required for implementation as well as for monitoring and evaluation. Yet, the sources of funding are not specified – although the NAP does identify potential sources of donations including multilaterals (such as the UNDP or the World Bank), bilaterals (such as China), the private sector, NGOs, and government agencies. A very unique feature of the NAP was that it summarizes the main findings from a baseline survey that the Civil Society National Task Force conducted, gathering information from 697 organizations, on the institutional environment for the implementation of UN WPS resolutions (Miller, Pournik, & Swaine, 2014).
According to Sierra Leone’s reporting for CSW64 and Beijing+25, implementation of the first Sierra Leone National Action Plan (SiLNAP) was affected by the advent of Ebola, and it expired in 2014 without achieving many of its strategic objectives. In November 2015, the UN Women hired a consultant to undertake the final evaluation of the Sierra Leone National Action Plan on UNSCR 1325 and 1820 (2010-2014). Consultations were done throughout the country by the consultant in collaboration with the National Steering Committee members, a structure formed for the implementation of the plan. This evaluation made recommendations for the second plan.
The final draft document is now available and will soon be finalized.